The Temple of the Muses (9 page)

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Authors: John Maddox Roberts

Tags: #Fiction, #Mystery & Detective, #Historical

BOOK: The Temple of the Muses
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The day was a pleasant one, as most are in Alexandria. The climate was not as ideal as that of Italy, but then, no place save Italy has such a climate. The throngs were lively and cheerful, and the scent of incense mixed with the pervasive smell of the sea. In most respects Alexandria was a more pleasantly aromatic city than Rome.
Armed with my royal commission, I mounted the steps of the Museum. I wanted to pay another visit to the Temple, but on this morning I had more urgent business. I passed through the entrance and made my way past the lecture halls that resounded with the droning of the philosophers, down the long colonnade of the Peripatetics, back to the courtyard where Iphicrates’s marvelous canal lock sat forlornly, unattended. This, I thought, was a project that might not see completion for a while.
I went into Iphicrates’s quarters, which had been tidied up. The blood had been scrubbed from the floor and a pair of secretaries were scribbling away, collating the writings and drawings on a large desk. A third man wandered around the study with a puzzled expression.
“Is the inventory nearly complete?” I asked.
“Almost, Senator,” said the elder of the two secretaries. “We will soon be finished with the drawings. This”—he indicated a papyrus lying on the table—“is the list of his writings and this”—
he pointed to another—“is a listing of all the objects we found in these quarters.” I began to study the latter. It would have helped immeasurably to know what had been there
before
the murder, but this was better than nothing.
“And what might be your business?” I asked the third man. He was a Greek with a long nose and a bald head, dressed like the Librarians I had seen.
“I am Eumenes of Eleusis, Librarian of the Pergamese Books. I came here to find a scroll that the late Iphicrates borrowed from my department.”
“I see. Was it by any chance a large scroll, of Pergamese skin-paper, with olive wood rollers, the handles stained vermilion?”
He looked surprised. “Why, yes, Senator. Have you seen it? I’ve been looking all morning.”
“What is the subject of this book?” I asked, ignoring his question.
“Forgive me, Senator, but Iphicrates borrowed this book in strictest confidence.”
“Iphicrates is dead, and I have been appointed to investigate. Now tell me—”
“Who are you?” interrupted someone from the doorway. Annoyed, I turned to see two men standing in the doorway. The one who had spoken I did not recognize. Just behind him stood a man who looked familiar.
I drew myself up. “I am Senator Decius Caecilius Metellus and I am investigating the murder of Iphicrates of Chios. Who might you be?”
The man came into the room, followed by the other. Now I remembered where I had seen that one. He was the hatchet-faced officer who had shooed me away from the parade ground.
“I am Achillas,” said the first man, “Commander of the Royal Army.” He wore studded boots and a rich, red tunic. Over that he wore one of those leather strap-harnesses that military men sometimes wear to give the appearance of armor, without having to endure its weight. His hair and beard were trimmed close all around.
“And I’m Memnon, Commander of the Macedonian Barracks,” said the other. “We’ve met.” They were both Macedonians, a nation of men who simply use their names, without the of-this-or-that the Greeks delight in so.
“So we have. And what are you two doing here?”
“By whose authority do you investigate?” demanded Achillas.
I was ready for that one.
“The king’s,” I said, holding out my sealed document. He studied it through slitted eyes.
“That damned, drunken fool,” he muttered. Then, to me: “What is your interest in this matter, Roman?”
“Rome is the friend of Egypt,” I said, “and we are always pleased to render aid to King Ptolemy, Friend and Ally of the Roman People.” I always loved this sort of diplomatic hypocrisy. “I am known in Rome as a skillful investigator of criminal acts, and I am more than happy to place my expertise at the service of the king.” I refolded my commission and placed it inside my tunic, leaving my hand there for the nonce. Memnon pushed forward, glaring at me. He wore cuirass and greaves, but no helmet. I was intensely aware of the short sword belted at his side.
“You aren’t wanted here, Roman,” he growled. “Go back to your embassy and drink and fornicate like the rest of your worthless countrymen. This is Egypt.”
At our first encounter we had been on his ground, surrounded by his soldiers. This was different.
“I am in the service not only of the Senate and People of Rome, but of their ally, your king. I believe that I am far more loyal to him than you are.”
They always get that look in their eyes when they go for their weapons. With a strangled sound of rage he gripped his sheath with one hand and his hilt with the other. I was ready for that, too.
The blade was halfway out of its sheath when my own hand emerged from my tunic, now gripping my
caestus.
I fed him a good one, the spikes on the bronze knucklebar catching him on the jaw just in front of the ear. He staggered back with a grunt of amazement.
I was amazed, too. I had never struck a man with my
caestus
without knocking him down. So I hit him again, on the same spot. This time he toppled amid a crash of bronze, like those heroes sung of by Homer.
The secretaries and the Librarian wore round-eyed expressions of surprise and fear. Hermes grinned happily, like the bloody-minded little demon that he was. Achillas looked very grave.
“You go too far, Senator,” he said.
“I go too far? He attacked a Roman Senator, an ambassador. Kingdoms have been destroyed for that.”
He shrugged. “A hundred years ago, perhaps. Not now.” Well, that was true enough. With a visible effort, he calmed himself. “This is not a matter worth provoking a diplomatic crisis. You must understand, Senator, that it always vexes us to see Romans come here and assume authority as if by right.”
“I quite understand,” I said. “But I am here by authority of your king.” On the floor, Memnon groaned.
“I had better see him to a physician,” Achillas said.
“I recommend Asklepiodes,” I said. “He’s nearby. Tell him I sent you.” He summoned a few slaves and they bore the fallen hero away. I still did not know why the two were there. They had been reluctant to say, and I thought it unwise to press the matter.
I turned back to the Librarian. “Now, you were about to tell me the nature of the missing book, were you not?” I slipped off my caestus and tossed it to Hermes. “Go wash the blood off that.” I told him.
“Why … ah … that is …” Eumenes took a deep breath and calmed himself. “Actually, Senator, it is one of the more valuable works in the Library. It was written by Biton and dedicated to King Attalus I of Pergamum more than one hundred years ago.”
“And its title?” I asked.
“
On Engines of War.
”
Hermes handed back my
caestus
as we left the Museum.
“That was as good as an afternoon in the amphitheater,” he said. “But that was one tough Greek.”
“Not Greek,” I corrected. “Macedonian. An altogether tougher breed.”
“I knew he was some sort of foreigner. You should have killed him. Now he’ll be coming for you.” Hermes had a delightfully simple way of looking at things.
“I’ll talk to the king. Maybe I can get him posted up the river someplace. I am more concerned about Achillas. He’s the ranking man in the royal army. See what you can find out about him.”
I do some of my best thinking while walking, and I had much to think about. So, Iphicrates never designed military machines, did he? Obviously, he had been lying. Typical Greek. But I wondered why all the secrecy. It was not as if the activity were unlawful. There had to be more to it.
Before long, we found ourselves in the quarter of the Jews, an odd race with a paucity of gods. Other than that, they were much like other Easterners. Many thought it strange that their god had no image, but until a few centuries ago, there were no statues of Roman gods, either. The early Ptolemies had favored the Jews as a balance against the native Egyptians. There was some sort of ancient antipathy between the two. As a result, Jews had flocked to the city.
The streets were quiet and almost deserted, an odd thing in Alexandria. I asked at one of the open stalls and found that it was a day of religious observance for the Jews, one that they spent at home rather than in a temple. This was commendable piety but boring for the observer.
“There’s other places in this city more lively,” Hermes said.
“Unquestionably,” I answered. “Let’s go to the Rakhotis.”
The Rakhotis was the Egyptian quarter, the largest in this most cosmopolitan of cities. It was easily the size of the Greek, Macedonian and Jewish quarters combined. In its own way, it was the oddest, to Roman eyes.
The Egyptians are the most ancient of peoples, and so profoundly conservative that they make the most reactionary Romans appear wildly mutable. The common subjects of the Ptolemies are
identical to the ones you see painted in the temples of the oldest Pharaohs. They are short, sturdily built people, dark of skin, although not as dark as Nubians. The usual garment of the men is a kilt of white linen, and most wear short, square-cut black wigs. They rim their eyes with kohl for its supposed beneficial effects, believing that it protects the eyes. The old Egyptian nobility, of whom there are still a few specimens here and there, is of a different race, taller and fairer, although darker than Greeks or Italians. Their language is spoken nowhere outside Egypt.
To see them now makes it difficult for one to believe that these were the people who built the mind-stunning pyramids, but then the Greeks of today aren’t much like the heroes of Homer, or even like their more recent ancestors of the Persian wars. The Egyptians take their religion very seriously, despite having some of the most supremely silly-looking gods in the world. Everybody thinks the animal-headed gods are hilarious, but my personal favorite is the one who is depicted dead and wrapped up like a mummy except for his face but who stands upright with an erect penis protruding from his wrappings.
In the Rakhotis we found the usual uproarious street scene, with hawkers plying their wares, animals being led to the markets, and the endless religious processions that are an inescapable part of Egyptian life. Here I was not simply sightseeing. I had a specific destination, but I didn’t want to look as if I were investigating in this district.
Our first stop was the Great Serapeum. It was another example of the Cyclopean architecture that so delighted the Successors. Almost as large as the Temple of Diana at Ephesus, the Serapeum was dedicated to the god Serapis, who was himself an Alexandrian invention. The Successors thought they could do everything better than anyone else, including god-making. Alexandria was a new sort of city, and they wanted a god for their city who would blend Egyptian and Greek religious practice, so they concocted a god with the majestic, serene countenance of Pluto and melded him with the Egyptian gods Osiris and Apis, hence the name Serapis. For some
reason this cobbled-together deity proved to be popular, and now he is worshipped throughout much of the world.
The Serapeum, like the Palace, forms a veritable city within a city, with livestock pens for the sacrificial animals, several cohorts of priests and attendants, rooms full of paraphernalia and treasures, fabulous art objects and even an arsenal and a private army to guard it all.
The temple itself was typical of the type, which is to say a standard Greek temple, only bigger. It sat on a lofty, man-made hill of stone, and the upper, visible part was always open to the public. It contained the statue of the god, which was surprisingly modest in its proportions. All this was for show. Since Serapis was an agglomeration of Chthonic deities, the actual worship was carried out in a series of underground crypts.
I strolled among these wonders, gawking like any other foreign tourist, but my attention was elsewhere. It was directed toward a smaller temple two streets south of the Serapeum. From it rose smoke as from a minor volcano, and the breeze carried the sounds of wailing song and clashing musical instruments. I stopped one of the priests, a man dressed in Greek sacerdotal garments, but with a leopard skin thrown over his shoulders in the Egyptian fashion.
“Tell me, sir,” I said, “what god might be worshipped in that noisy temple over there?”
From the lofty eminence of the Serapeum he stared down his equally lofty nose at the temple in question.
“That is the Temple of Baal-Ahriman, although in better days it was a respectable temple of Horus. I would recommend that you avoid it, Senator. It is a cult brought here by unwashed foreigners, and only the lewdest and most degraded of Alexandrians frequent it. Their barbarous god is worshipped with disgusting orgies.”
Hermes tugged at my arm. “Let’s go! Let’s go!”
“We shall, but only because it is within the scope of my investigation,” I said.
We descended the majestic steps of the Serapeum and crossed two blocks to the Temple of Baal-Ahriman, which was thronged
with worshippers, sightseers and idlers. It seemed that the inaugural festivities were still in progress. People danced to the clanging of cymbals and the rattle of sistra, the wailing of flutes and the thumping of drums. Many lay inert, worn out by their sanctified exertions.

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